Profiteers

PROFITEERS.
S P E E C H
OF
HON. WILLIAM E . BORAH,
O F I D A H O ,
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
Friday, May 31, 1918.
Mr. BORAH. Mr. President, I send to the desk a resolution
which I ask to have read.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The resolution will be read.
The Secretary read the resolution (S. Res. 253) as follows:
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby,
directed to furnish ' the Senate with the following information :
1. Any and all facts, figures, data, or information now in possession
of the Treasury Department relative to profiteering which would in
any way enable Congress to deal with the matter either through the pres­ent
proposed revenue legislation or through enactment of more effective
criminal statutes.
2 The figures showing the amount of money which the Government
has raised up to this time since the beginning of the war by taxation
and the amount which it has raised by loans.
Mr. BORAH. Mr. President, I ask the indulgence of the Sen­ate
for just a moment until I explain my object and purpose in
introducing this resolution, and my desire to have the informa­tion
brought to the Senate, and, after having been brought to
the Senate, that it may have the consideration of the Senate.
There is one portion of the President's great message upon
taxation, delivered a day or two ago, to which it seems to me
sufficient attention has not been given in public discussion, and
that is the part which reads as follows :
There is abundant fuel for the light in the records of the Treasury
with regards to profits of every sort. The profiteering that can not be
got at by the restraints of conscience and love of country can be got
at by taxation. There is such profiteering now and the information
with regard to it is available and indisputable.
That statement is evidently based upon facts within the
knowledge of the administration and, I take it, in the posses­sion
of the Treasury Department. The President, in my judg­ment,
suggests a very proper and efficient way in which to deal
with the subject of profiteering, and that id by taxation. You
can not reach it in all instances, in its subtle and devious ways
of carrying o~i. its work, by criminal statutes. While criminal
statutes are desirable and should be passed wherever it is
thought that they can meet the situation there is no doubt but
than an effective aid to any criminal statute is that of taxation.
In many instances where it could not be reached at all by any
other method it can be reached effectively by taxation.
I am, therefore, in hearty accord with the expression of the
President with reference to the method of reaching profiteering;
62955—18615
2
but, Mr. President, I regarded that statement, when made by
the President, as somewhat startling. If it had been said by
some private citizen, it would likely have started him upon the
way to the penitentiary. But the President has made the state­ment
and it was most proper—indeed, not only proper, but has
developed upon us the duty—to discuss the subject and deal
with it. I take it that he would not have incorporated it in
his message had he not regarded it as of transcendent moment,
and worthy of the speedy consideration of Congress.
To say that profiteering is here, and that the evidence of it
is indisputable, and that it is subject to the call of Congress, is
to notify the Congress that more important than dealing with
the general subject of revenue—which we might deal with later,
perhaps effectively—is dealing with this particular subject of
profiteering. That should be dealt with at once. Summer or
no summer, vacation or no vacation, that should have our imme­diate
attention. Mr. President, of course in referring to a
profiteer we do not refer to a man who is simply conducting his
business in a skillful and efficient way and securing the reward
of such skillfulness and efficiency by taking a reasonable profit
for his efforts. The man to whom the President refers, and I
presume to whom we refer when we speak of profiteers, is the
man who takes advantage of his country's condition, of its
perilous situation to gather extraordinary profits, who is taking-advantage
of his country's stress and trial to increase enor
mously and unjustly and unfairly his individual and private
gain.
To my mind, and I presume I simply express the view of
every patriot, the man who does that is upon a lower moral
level than the foreign spy. The foreign spy is at least loyal
to his flag, he is loyal to his country; he takes his life in his
hands to serve that country; but the man who claims the pro­tection
of the flag, who professes his loyalty to the Government
and his devotion to the flag, and at the same time takes ad­vantage
of the Nation's peril and the Government's dire neces­sities
to increase his private gain, thereby demoralizing the
efforts of the people, impeding the progress of the war, and
finally working for its ultimate failure, is infinitely lower in
morals, in my humble judgment, than the foreign spy who takes
his life in his hands for his own government.
The Congress of the United States is now advised unmis­takably
in terms which can not be contradicted or about which
there can be no doubt that this profiteering is active and the
evidence indisputable. If that be true, there should be no
talk of adjournment until this bill shall have passed. While
we might provide the revenue a month or a month and a half
or two or three months from now, the profiteer should not be
permitted to escape beyond the time within which we can act
intelligently and effecively.
Mr. President, a few days ago a noted woman in this country
with whose methods as to government most of us disagree, but
with whose humanitarian objects and purposes many of us
agree, was convicted in an American court. Here is the state­ment
upon which that conviction was founded, or at least one
of the counts of the indictment:
No government which is for the profiteers can also be for the
people.
62955—18615
3
Nothing is truer than that statement. No government which
is for the profiteer can be for the people. If the Government
of the United States possesses the facts as to the existence of
these profiteers and fails to prosecute, fails to deal with them
by taxation or otherwise, the Government is derelict and justly
subject to the criticism of everybody who is for the people; and
not only for the people but, in the broader sense, for the Gov­ernment,
for a government can not long exist which will not
eliminate the profiteer—
And I am for the people, while the Government is for the profiteers.
Now, it is up to Congress to justify the conviction of Rose
Pastor Stokes in that court. It is up to us to demonstrate
beyond question that the Government of the United States is
not with the profiteer, and we can not do so if we leave the
evidence before us undealt with and legislation unenacted.
I do not assume at this time that the Government is friendly
to the profiteers, but there will be no defense to the charge
made by these people if the Congress shall adjourn without
most drastic legislation concerning this matter. If the facts
are here, and the President tells us and the American people
they are here, and we fail to deal with the situation, Rose
Pastor Stokes will no longer be a criminal, but a martyr.
This Government can not be a slacker in dealing with those
who pad the pay rolls and cheat the taxpayer, who scheme for
the possession of the money which the Government must have
to prosecute the war, who, while our boys are dying and liberty
stands in hourly peril, extort through overreaching and fraud
from their struggling Nation and at the same time justify the
conviction of those people who denounce it.
Now, a government may close the lips of an individual; you
may reduce them all to silence for a time; but every time you
close the lips of an individual and fail to remedy the wrong
you put a thousand more to thinking, and you can not prevent
people from thinking. In time their thinking will ripen into
action. If we would have the people contented and confident;
if we would have our country relieved of a multitude of prose­cutions,
it devolves upon us here and now to remove the evil
whicli is now conceded by the Government to exist and the
facts concerning which are at our disposal.
Mr. President, I do not desire to go further into detail or
take the time of the Senate longer at this time. But in con­clusion
let me say this Congress now assembled will mortgage
the energy and the capacity of the American people for the next
250 years. When we think of the reluctance of a national debt
once established to release its hold upon the sweat and toil of
men, when we reflect upon its remorseless demands for annual
tribute we can well believe that two and a half centuries will
still find a portion of this obligation we are so speedily impos­ing
a burden upon the people. One shudders to contemplate the
deprivation, the self-denial, the suffering, and the sacrifice
which its payment will involve. From decade to decade, from
generation to generation families will bend under the burden,
and the average citizen through long years will feel its haunting
presence at the fireside and at his table.
With every necessary dollar expended no patriot will find
fault—it is the price we pay for the liberty we love, for the
62955—18615
4
freedom we would transmit to our children. But if we falter
in cutting out waste and extravagance we will receive, and
justly, the execrations of those who must meet this gigantic
debt. If we delay one hour beyond the time necessary to shape
the law to deal with the execrable wretch, the hated of earth,
the alien from hell who would profit off his country's peril,
we will deserve what we will receive—the anathemas and the
curses of posterity. The profiteer! That scavenger of civiliza­tion,
that tarautula burying its fangs in the veins and arteries
of the wounded and the grief stricken, yet the President says
he is in our midst, that the evidence is here and indisputable.
In the name, therefore, of the success of this war, in the name
of every patriot in the land making his sacrifice and contribut­ing
his efforts to the common cause, let us proceed to his de­struction.
We can either drive him from his prey—the Ameri­can
people—or we can turn his ill-gotten gains into the Treasury
of the United States to meet the burdens of this war. The
President is right. We can deal with him effectually and con­clusively
by taxation, and I trust that in the passage of this bill
we will not falter in doing our full duty in that respect.
62955—18615
WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1918

Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.

The contents of this item, including all images and text, are for personal, educational, and non-commercial use only. The contents of this item may not be reproduced in any form without the express permission of Boise State University Special Collections and Archives. For permissions or to place an order, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives at (208) 426-3958 or archives@boisestate.edu.

Full Text

PROFITEERS.
S P E E C H
OF
HON. WILLIAM E . BORAH,
O F I D A H O ,
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
Friday, May 31, 1918.
Mr. BORAH. Mr. President, I send to the desk a resolution
which I ask to have read.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The resolution will be read.
The Secretary read the resolution (S. Res. 253) as follows:
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby,
directed to furnish ' the Senate with the following information :
1. Any and all facts, figures, data, or information now in possession
of the Treasury Department relative to profiteering which would in
any way enable Congress to deal with the matter either through the pres­ent
proposed revenue legislation or through enactment of more effective
criminal statutes.
2 The figures showing the amount of money which the Government
has raised up to this time since the beginning of the war by taxation
and the amount which it has raised by loans.
Mr. BORAH. Mr. President, I ask the indulgence of the Sen­ate
for just a moment until I explain my object and purpose in
introducing this resolution, and my desire to have the informa­tion
brought to the Senate, and, after having been brought to
the Senate, that it may have the consideration of the Senate.
There is one portion of the President's great message upon
taxation, delivered a day or two ago, to which it seems to me
sufficient attention has not been given in public discussion, and
that is the part which reads as follows :
There is abundant fuel for the light in the records of the Treasury
with regards to profits of every sort. The profiteering that can not be
got at by the restraints of conscience and love of country can be got
at by taxation. There is such profiteering now and the information
with regard to it is available and indisputable.
That statement is evidently based upon facts within the
knowledge of the administration and, I take it, in the posses­sion
of the Treasury Department. The President, in my judg­ment,
suggests a very proper and efficient way in which to deal
with the subject of profiteering, and that id by taxation. You
can not reach it in all instances, in its subtle and devious ways
of carrying o~i. its work, by criminal statutes. While criminal
statutes are desirable and should be passed wherever it is
thought that they can meet the situation there is no doubt but
than an effective aid to any criminal statute is that of taxation.
In many instances where it could not be reached at all by any
other method it can be reached effectively by taxation.
I am, therefore, in hearty accord with the expression of the
President with reference to the method of reaching profiteering;
62955—18615
2
but, Mr. President, I regarded that statement, when made by
the President, as somewhat startling. If it had been said by
some private citizen, it would likely have started him upon the
way to the penitentiary. But the President has made the state­ment
and it was most proper—indeed, not only proper, but has
developed upon us the duty—to discuss the subject and deal
with it. I take it that he would not have incorporated it in
his message had he not regarded it as of transcendent moment,
and worthy of the speedy consideration of Congress.
To say that profiteering is here, and that the evidence of it
is indisputable, and that it is subject to the call of Congress, is
to notify the Congress that more important than dealing with
the general subject of revenue—which we might deal with later,
perhaps effectively—is dealing with this particular subject of
profiteering. That should be dealt with at once. Summer or
no summer, vacation or no vacation, that should have our imme­diate
attention. Mr. President, of course in referring to a
profiteer we do not refer to a man who is simply conducting his
business in a skillful and efficient way and securing the reward
of such skillfulness and efficiency by taking a reasonable profit
for his efforts. The man to whom the President refers, and I
presume to whom we refer when we speak of profiteers, is the
man who takes advantage of his country's condition, of its
perilous situation to gather extraordinary profits, who is taking-advantage
of his country's stress and trial to increase enor
mously and unjustly and unfairly his individual and private
gain.
To my mind, and I presume I simply express the view of
every patriot, the man who does that is upon a lower moral
level than the foreign spy. The foreign spy is at least loyal
to his flag, he is loyal to his country; he takes his life in his
hands to serve that country; but the man who claims the pro­tection
of the flag, who professes his loyalty to the Government
and his devotion to the flag, and at the same time takes ad­vantage
of the Nation's peril and the Government's dire neces­sities
to increase his private gain, thereby demoralizing the
efforts of the people, impeding the progress of the war, and
finally working for its ultimate failure, is infinitely lower in
morals, in my humble judgment, than the foreign spy who takes
his life in his hands for his own government.
The Congress of the United States is now advised unmis­takably
in terms which can not be contradicted or about which
there can be no doubt that this profiteering is active and the
evidence indisputable. If that be true, there should be no
talk of adjournment until this bill shall have passed. While
we might provide the revenue a month or a month and a half
or two or three months from now, the profiteer should not be
permitted to escape beyond the time within which we can act
intelligently and effecively.
Mr. President, a few days ago a noted woman in this country
with whose methods as to government most of us disagree, but
with whose humanitarian objects and purposes many of us
agree, was convicted in an American court. Here is the state­ment
upon which that conviction was founded, or at least one
of the counts of the indictment:
No government which is for the profiteers can also be for the
people.
62955—18615
3
Nothing is truer than that statement. No government which
is for the profiteer can be for the people. If the Government
of the United States possesses the facts as to the existence of
these profiteers and fails to prosecute, fails to deal with them
by taxation or otherwise, the Government is derelict and justly
subject to the criticism of everybody who is for the people; and
not only for the people but, in the broader sense, for the Gov­ernment,
for a government can not long exist which will not
eliminate the profiteer—
And I am for the people, while the Government is for the profiteers.
Now, it is up to Congress to justify the conviction of Rose
Pastor Stokes in that court. It is up to us to demonstrate
beyond question that the Government of the United States is
not with the profiteer, and we can not do so if we leave the
evidence before us undealt with and legislation unenacted.
I do not assume at this time that the Government is friendly
to the profiteers, but there will be no defense to the charge
made by these people if the Congress shall adjourn without
most drastic legislation concerning this matter. If the facts
are here, and the President tells us and the American people
they are here, and we fail to deal with the situation, Rose
Pastor Stokes will no longer be a criminal, but a martyr.
This Government can not be a slacker in dealing with those
who pad the pay rolls and cheat the taxpayer, who scheme for
the possession of the money which the Government must have
to prosecute the war, who, while our boys are dying and liberty
stands in hourly peril, extort through overreaching and fraud
from their struggling Nation and at the same time justify the
conviction of those people who denounce it.
Now, a government may close the lips of an individual; you
may reduce them all to silence for a time; but every time you
close the lips of an individual and fail to remedy the wrong
you put a thousand more to thinking, and you can not prevent
people from thinking. In time their thinking will ripen into
action. If we would have the people contented and confident;
if we would have our country relieved of a multitude of prose­cutions,
it devolves upon us here and now to remove the evil
whicli is now conceded by the Government to exist and the
facts concerning which are at our disposal.
Mr. President, I do not desire to go further into detail or
take the time of the Senate longer at this time. But in con­clusion
let me say this Congress now assembled will mortgage
the energy and the capacity of the American people for the next
250 years. When we think of the reluctance of a national debt
once established to release its hold upon the sweat and toil of
men, when we reflect upon its remorseless demands for annual
tribute we can well believe that two and a half centuries will
still find a portion of this obligation we are so speedily impos­ing
a burden upon the people. One shudders to contemplate the
deprivation, the self-denial, the suffering, and the sacrifice
which its payment will involve. From decade to decade, from
generation to generation families will bend under the burden,
and the average citizen through long years will feel its haunting
presence at the fireside and at his table.
With every necessary dollar expended no patriot will find
fault—it is the price we pay for the liberty we love, for the
62955—18615
4
freedom we would transmit to our children. But if we falter
in cutting out waste and extravagance we will receive, and
justly, the execrations of those who must meet this gigantic
debt. If we delay one hour beyond the time necessary to shape
the law to deal with the execrable wretch, the hated of earth,
the alien from hell who would profit off his country's peril,
we will deserve what we will receive—the anathemas and the
curses of posterity. The profiteer! That scavenger of civiliza­tion,
that tarautula burying its fangs in the veins and arteries
of the wounded and the grief stricken, yet the President says
he is in our midst, that the evidence is here and indisputable.
In the name, therefore, of the success of this war, in the name
of every patriot in the land making his sacrifice and contribut­ing
his efforts to the common cause, let us proceed to his de­struction.
We can either drive him from his prey—the Ameri­can
people—or we can turn his ill-gotten gains into the Treasury
of the United States to meet the burdens of this war. The
President is right. We can deal with him effectually and con­clusively
by taxation, and I trust that in the passage of this bill
we will not falter in doing our full duty in that respect.
62955—18615
WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1918